Date: May 5, 2021
From: Cherin Marie 
To: Stewart Ruch
Cc: Eve Ahrens, Joanna Rudenborg, [Redacted], Brenda Dumper, Anne Kessler, Steve Williamson, Helen Keuning 

Dear Stewart,

I deeply appreciate the letter you released yesterday and am grateful that it came from you directly and was sent to the entire diocese. Thank you so much for doing this.

I wanted to reach out personally about one particular thing in your announcement. You mentioned that [redacted]’s abuse did not happen on church property or at church events.  I am urging you to please not make that dangerous assumption.

[redacted paragraph]

It’s also important to understand that grooming is a form of sexual abuse. I personally witnessed Mark inviting [Cherin’s daughter] to sit on his lap during church services and at church functions, often while wearing clerical robes, where he would scratch and rub her back, hug, snuggle, and kiss her on the cheeks and head. [redacted sentence]. This was sexual grooming, done in full view of others, to desensitize [Cherin’s daughter] (and all of us) to his inappropriate physical contact.

I have also seen Mark exhibit grooming behaviors towards numerous Rez children, on Rez and COLA property. This was happening all the time, at both churches. Mark intentionally sought out Rez youth to spiritually mentor, even “adopting” some as godchildren. This is how [redacted] and [redacted] came to have a relationship with Mark – he pursued them, developed friendships with them, and pressured them to become his “godchildren”. [Redacted] was horribly victimized by Mark during a spiritual mentoring session, and both of them were groomed, hugged, and touched inappropriately by Mark at Rez and COLA services and church functions.

I am concerned that the assertion you made about this creates a false picture and downplays the scope and seriousness of Mark’s behavior towards [Cherin’s daughter] and other victims at Rez and COLA. I also think it’s very important to clearly name the number of victims, what the actual allegations are, and expand on Mark’s involvement at Rez and with Rez families, so as not to minimize or downplay the gravity and seriousness of this situation, especially as it relates to Rez.

If you are willing, I would feel greatly relieved if the following were added as an update to the diocese.

- Accusations against Mark Rivera have been made involving 10 different victims. The allegations include child sexual abuse, rape, assault, grooming, sexual abuse, and exposure to pornography. 

- Mark is currently being prosecuted for 9 counts of child sexual abuse in Kane County.

- Mark served at Resurrection as a prayer minister, communion minister, RL [Redeemed Lives] small group leader, PCM [Pastoral Care Ministries] prayer minister, youth volunteer, and webmaster. He also had extensive interactions with and unsupervised exposure to Rez children during Bird and Baby Theatre productions around 2009-2011. Mark also had extensive exposure to Riverside students (many of whom attend Resurrection) at his home property, some of whom he hugged and interacted with while out on bond, in direct violation of his bond release agreement to have no contact with minors. 

- It’s also extremely important that Rez families, in particular, understand that eight of the victims were attending Church of the Resurrection at the time they were victimized (5 of whom were Rez youth).

A personal question I want to ask is whether you are willing to commit to making all investigation findings and reports public? If so, please express this to the congregation and the diocese, as this means an enormous amount to anyone who participates in the investigation.   

Thank you,

Cherin

 I’ve attached a document outlining Mark’s involvement with Resurrection, which gives more details around the extent of his connections and involvement in the church.