Piecing It All Together:
Part 03, Incompetence & Malpractice
“Abuse silences victims and renders them powerless.
Listening makes room for their voice and restores dignity.”
- Diane Langberg
*The following contains references to sexual assault and child sexual abuse and may be triggering to some readers.
When communities listen to survivor stories, they empower and support survivors on their journey toward restored dignity. Listening to stories of abuse can be a challenging task for church communities. Bearing witness requires paying attention to details and tracking with a large cast of abusers, enablers, bystanders, and allies. In addition to the abuse itself, survivor stories often include countless other secondary and tertiary injuries that compound the initial trauma.
This third section of our timeline lays out more of the sexual abuse and subsequent mishandling that led to the formation of ACNAtoo. Please read Part 01 and Part 02, Part 04, and Part 05 of our timeline for reference. Where possible, we have included the primary source evidence alongside the events as alleged by survivors and witnesses.
Who’s Who, March 2020:
Mark Rivera: recent Christ our Light Anglican catechist, former longtime member and volunteer leader at Church of the Resurrection
Joanna Rudenborg: Rand York’s goddaughter, Mark Rivera’s neighbor, reportedly raped by Mark in 2018 and again in 2020
Cherin Marie: Mother of Mark Rivera’s nine-year-old reported victim
Eric Snyder: Rector of St. Michael’s Anglican in Delafield, WI
Christopher Lapeyre: Christ Our Light senior warden and worship pastor, longtime member and worship leader at Church of the Resurrection, and Mark Rivera’s close friend of decades
Rand York: Christ Our Light’s rector, Cherin Marie’s great uncle, Joanna Rudenborg’s godfather, and Mark Rivera’s spiritual mentor and close friend of 20+ years
Stewart Ruch: Bishop of the Upper Midwest Diocese and longtime rector of Church of the Resurrection
Valerie McIntyre: Deacon, spiritual director, and pastoral care and healing pastor at Church of the Resurrection
Eve Ahrens: licensed professional counselor and survivor advocate
Eirik Olsen: Rector at Light of Christ in Kenosha, WI, Dean of UMD’s Wisconsin Deanery, UMD Canon for Prayer and Reconciliation, Executive Pastor of The Greenhouse Movement (as of fall 2020), and long-time friend to Mark Rivera, Rand York, William Beasley, and Stewart Ruch
William Beasley: Upper Midwest Diocese Canon and Missioner General and head of The Greenhouse Movement
Keith Hartsell: Rector of Cornerstone Anglican and senior leader within the Greenhouse Movement
Steve Williamson: Priest at Church of the Resurrection who would later be made Dean
Christ Our Light Anglican Church (COLA): small church in Big Rock, IL that Cherin Marie and other longtime Church of the Resurrection members planted in 2013
Church of the Resurrection (Rez): UMD headquarters in Wheaton, IL, where Cherin Marie, Mark Rivera, Christopher Lapeyre, and Rev. York attended since the mid 90’s and Stewart Ruch was the rector since 1999
Diocese of the Upper Midwest (UMD): one of 28 dioceses within the Anglican Church of North America
Greenhouse Movement: church planting organization within the UMD that planted COLA and approved Mark Rivera to become a lay Catechist
Riverside Club for Adventure and Imagination: a supplemental education center for home-school students, which shared a rented property with Mark Rivera before and after his 2019 arrest and bond release
MARCH 2020
“Mark Rivera allegedly rapes his next door neighbor, Joanna Rudenborg, for the second time while he is home on bond release.
Excerpts from Joanna’s November 2020 sexual assault disclosure to Mark’s community:
“Mark poured me a little rum. I poured myself a bit more rum later. I don’t recall drinking that much, but I blacked out again, as I had two years before.”
“...the next morning I woke up in my bed, in some state of undress, and I knew that something had happened again. A new wave of shock enveloped me…”
“I couldn’t believe this had happened again. This time, shame overwhelmed me.”
“I was also angry with him, since amidst all his inappropriate overtures towards me he had, at least, clearly promised that he would never again do anything sexual with me when I was drunk.”
”
APRIL 2020
“Cherin Marie speaks on the phone with Rev. Eric Snyder, a UMD priest Bp. Ruch tasked to carry out an internal review of The Greenhouse Movement. She shares a brief overview of her family’s experience with Greenhouse and her many concerns about the church planting organization, highlighting the issues that led to multiple Greenhouse leaders failing to report Mark sexually abusing her child to the authorities.
On January 27, 2021, months after the review’s completion, Bp. Ruch would email Cherin and her husband to let them know Rev. Snyder’s findings had resulted in a restructuring of Greenhouse leadership. Bp. Ruch would go on to assure Cherin that her family’s input was being used to help formulate guidelines for other churches in the diocese.
Read Bp. Ruch’s January 2021 email to Cherin and her husband here:
Distraught at how poorly everything had been handled, Cherin would later email Bp. Ruch to express her pain and disappointment about the Greenhouse review process.
Read an excerpt from Cherin’s May 1, 2021 email to Bp. Ruch here:
”
To this day, Cherin has not received any indication of what the Greenhouse review uncovered or how her family’s story was portrayed in the final report.
JULY 2020
“Kane County Judge DJ Tegeler places Mark Rivera on electronic home ankle monitoring after police receive reports that he has been interacting with minors at his home, online, and at Riverside Club for Adventure and Imagination (a supplemental education center that shares a rented property with Rivera and his family) in violation of his bond agreement not to have any contact with minors other than his own children. ”
Mark Rivera (Photo used with permission)
SEPTEMBER 2020
“Mark Rivera and his family relocate from Big Rock, IL to Winfield, IL. ”
NOVEMBER 2020
“Joanna Rudenborg writes a detailed account of how Mark Rivera raped her twice (once while he was out on bond release) and manipulated her into keeping silent about it.
Joanna shares this by email with Mark’s wife and key members of the Christ Our Light community, including Rev. Rand York and COLA Senior Warden Christopher Lapeyre.
She also sends her disclosure email to Mark’s landlords, Mark’s bond surety, Cherin Marie, and another mother whose daughter has alleged that Mark abused her.”
“The mother of one of Mark Rivera’s victims forwards Joanna Rudenborg’s email disclosure to Bp. Stewart Ruch and his wife.”
“Bp. Stewart Ruch and his wife email Joanna Rudenborg, thanking her for her courage in sharing her “painful and credible” story. They also urge Joanna to contact the authorities.
In this email, Bp. Ruch tells Joanna that the church will be providing pastoral care to Mark Rivera and his family and extends a similar offer of support to her:
“Diocesan pastoral leaders will be dealing pastorally with the whole Rivera family, as well as others connected to Christ Our Light Anglican. We also want to extend to you our availability to meet with you personally and serve you in whatever way we could in your journey toward healing, if that is something you would desire.” ”
“An additional survivor of sexual abuse by Mark Rivera comes forward to Church of the Resurrection leaders, who appropriately file a report with the authorities on the victim’s behalf.
From Bp. Ruch’s May 4, 2021 announcement to the Upper Midwest Diocese:
“The next day, I learned that a third young woman had disclosed to two pastoral leaders that very day that she and Mark had engaged in a sexual relationship for several months. Because we were not clear about her age and to exercise caution, I directed these two pastoral leaders to call DCFS and the prosecutor’s office. They did so immediately.””
“Dcn. Valerie McIntyre calls Cherin unexpectedly, after they have not spoken for several months, and asks her for the name and number of the prosecutor overseeing Mark Rivera’s criminal case.
When Cherin asks why she wants this information, Dcn. McIntyre says, “Oh, didn’t you hear about [redacted survivor’s name]?”
Cherin says she has not, and Dcn. McIntyre then goes on to disclose sensitive details about the survivor’s abuse, her family, her private abuse disclosure to a Rez pastor the day before, and additional confidential personal and pastoral information.
Cherin was not aware of this survivor’s identity, how Mark abused her, or any of these details before her conversation with Dcn. McIntyre. Cherin would later voice her concern about these and other confidentiality violations to Bp. Stewart Ruch and Dean Steve Williamson, respectively.
”
Photo via Facebook
“Concerned that Church of the Resurrection may not be equipped to safely minister to Mark Rivera and his family, let alone Mark’s victims, Eve Ahrens (a licensed professional counselor and Joanna Rudenborg’s chosen advocate) emails Bp. Stewart Ruch and his wife Katherine to request a Zoom meeting with them.
In consultation with Joanna, Eve provides a written agenda for the meeting to address the immediate safety of Mark’s family and community, the systemic enabling and complicity within the COLA community, and the language and co-creation of Mark’s false narrative.
Read an excerpt of Eve’s email here:
Eve then meets via Zoom with Bp. Ruch and his wife Katherine to request answers to her emailed questions and for an update on the situation at large. ”
“As a follow up to their Zoom meeting, Eve Ahrens emails Bp. Stewart Ruch and Katherine a summary of six reported or suspected victims of Mark Rivera.
One of the six reports is Eve’s own personal account of Mark Rivera inviting her, when she was a teenager, to an empty church for a private prayer session. Eve details how this prayer session involved Mark placing his hands on her upper chest (over Eve’s hand) and on her back, making a spontaneous and specific reference to his own sexual history with a “gay lover” (completely unrelated to anything they were discussing), and taking care to assure Eve that he was following protocol by leaving the office door open while this was all going on—even though they were alone in church building, so this was completely irrelevant.
Eve explains how, in her professional opinion, this encounter fits a pattern of Mark Rivera exhibiting grooming behavior going back as far as 15 years.
Read an excerpt of Eve’s email here:
”
Back in June of 2019, Cherin Marie had already disclosed five of the six reported and suspected victims’ stories to Church of the Resurrection leaders Dcn. Val McIntyre and Meghan Robins.
After Eve Ahrens shares those same accounts in her November, 25 2020 email, she receives a response from, Bp. Ruch on Dec. 15, 2020. He thanks her for sharing this information with him:
“I was told of some of those incidents but I did not remember every single one of them (which could be my memory),” writes Bp. Ruch.
DECEMBER 2020
“Bp. Stewart Ruch and his wife Katherine reportedly go personally to Mark Rivera’s house to pray for Mark and his family.
Two separate sources report that during the Ruchs’ visit to Mark Rivera’s home, Bp. Ruch exorcized an estimated 10 demons out of Mark. ”
Bishop Stewart Ruch (Photo via Facebook)
Word reaches Joanna Rudenborg and Cherin Marie that Mark Rivera continues referring to his rapes of Joanna and his sexual abuse of another survivor as “affairs,” despite church leaders reportedly urging him not to do so.
“Cherin Marie emails Dcn. Valerie McIntyre to inquire about what steps Church of the Resurrection is taking in response to Joanna Rudenborg’s and another survivor’s recent allegations against Mark Rivera.
Cherin also inquires whether COLA Senior Warden Christopher Lapeyre has been allowed to continue serving as a leader at Church of the Resurrection given his enabling of Mark. Christopher Lapeyre knew of Mark Rivera’s first rape of Joanna Rudenborg and allowed Mark to continue serving as a Christ Our Light leader, something that resulted in Mark having ongoing trust in the community and access to Cherin’s daughter.
Read Cherin’s email to Dcn McIntyre here:
Dcn. McIntyre responds promptly to say, “I would be happy to set up some time to talk more in detail with you. But for now I can tell you that Bishop Stewart has closed Christ our light (sic) permanently. Chris Lapeyre will not serve on the worship team for the foreseeable future. Fr. Eirik Olsen would be the first person to talk with about Chris. I can forward the email to him if you wish.”
”
“Eve Ahrens emails Dcn. Valerie McIntyre (cc’ing Bp. Stewart Ruch) to ask whether Church of the Resurrection (which has offered Joanna Rudenborg pastoral care and support) has any trauma-informed counselors they contract with who may be available to work with Joanna at a lower cost than paying out of pocket.
Neither Dcn. McIntyre nor Bp. Ruch ever responds to Eve’s email.
Read Eve’s email to Dcn. McIntyre here:
”
“Word reaches Cherin Marie that the Mark Rivera survivor who told Rez leaders her story right after Joanna Rudenborg’s disclosure is very concerned about her identity being revealed to anyone. As Dcn. McIntyre openly shared the survivor’s name and information about her abuse with Cherin, Cherin asks Dcn. McIntyre directly for clarification about this survivor’s wishes surrounding confidentiality.
“Well, the cat’s already out of the bag,” says Dcn. McIntyre during a phone call with Cherin. Dcn. McIntyre then suggests that it is probably best for this particular survivor if more people know about what happened to her, so she can have as much support as possible. ”
Joanna Rudenborg will later email Dcn. Valerie McIntyre and Bp. Stewart Ruch on January 23, 2021 to ask for clarification about this other survivor's desired level of confidentiality.
“As her pastors we are keeping the details of her story with careful discretion,” writes Dcn. McIntyre in reply.
Deacon Valerie McIntyre (Photo via Facebook)
“During a phone call to discuss the Mark Rivera situation, Dcn. Valerie McIntyre tells Cherin unsolicited details about the private struggles of a different Church of the Resurrection parishioner whom Dcn. McIntyre and Dcn. Margie Fawcett had recently met with for pastoral care.
“It’s going to take a miracle to save their marriage,” Dcn. McIntyre says unexpectedly.
She then goes on to disclose private details to Cherin about this parishioner, including personal and marital struggles, confidential information about the parishioner’s children, and other sensitive information, the sharing of which is in direct violation of pastoral confidentiality standards. Dcn. McIntyre then expresses her own personal opinions on this parishioner’s situation, including harsh judgements on their mental process, parenting, and children.
”
“In the same conversation, Dcn. Valerie McIntyre tells Cherin that UMD Canon Eirik Olsen recently counseled Mark Rivera’s wife and children to return home to “say goodbye” to Mark back in mid-November, under the incorrect assumption that Mark was about to be arrested for the new allegations of rape and sexual abuse brought forward by Joanna and the additional survivor. (Mark’s wife and children were out of town when Joanna disclosed Mark’s rapes and when the additional survivor came forward.)
Mark would not be arrested for over a year. Cn. Olsen’s reported advice effectively encouraged vulnerable individuals (Mark’s wife and minor children) to return to an alleged abuser’s most immediate sphere of control.
When Cherin expresses her distress about Cn. Olsen’s recent counsel, Dcn. McIntyre assures her that Cn. Olsen would have never given that advice back in November if he had known Mark Rivera would not be immediately arrested. Dcn. McIntyre then reports that church leaders have asked Mark to move out of his family’s home but that he has refused to do so.
Cherin emails Dcn. McIntyre that evening and urges her that church leaders need to take more serious measures immediately to counteract Cn. Olsen’s original advice.
Dcn. McIntyre replies and promises to follow up with Cn. Olsen about Cherin’s concerns: “Your point is well taken. I will circle around with Fr. Eirik again about that,” writes Dcn. McIntyre.
”
Rev. Rand York and UMD Canon Eirik Olsen (Photo via Facebook)
Despite Cherin’s urging, church and diocesan leaders reportedly do nothing to remedy Cn. Eirik Olsen’s detrimental advice for another two months.
Joanna Rudenborg, Cherin Marie, Eve Ahrens, and another advocate send an email to Bp. Stewart Ruch and other senior diocesan leaders on January 19, 2021, explaining the situation in detail and urging Bp. Ruch to take immediate action.
According to Bp. Ruch and Cn. Olsen themselves (on a Feb. 10, 2021 Zoom call with these four women), it is only after Joanna’s Jan. 19 email that Church of the Resurrection and UMD leadership directly communicate to Mark Rivera’s wife that they do not support her and her children continuing to live with Mark.
Bp. Ruch and Cn. Olsen also report to the four women that Mark Rivera and his wife rejected this advice from church leaders and immediately ended their pastoral care relationship with the church in response to it.
“Cherin Marie is deeply concerned by Dcn. McIntyre’s pastoral malpractice in having disclosed confidential pastoral information and her lack of initiative and urgency to take swift action to protect those under her care.
Cherin has already given up on pursuing pastoral care with Dcn. McIntyre several months prior, and she now increasingly distances herself, eventually cutting off all communication with Dcn. McIntyre due to general breach of trust and lack of competence.”
“Joanna Rudenborg, who has been staying with friends in another state since she disclosed Mark’s abuses of her to his community, travels back to Illinois to press charges against Mark Rivera for allegedly raping her twice.
At this point, Mark has been awaiting trial for over a year and a half on multiple counts of sexually assaulting Cherin Marie’s daughter.
Joanna’s interview with a Kane County detective launches a second criminal investigation of Mark which will result, a year later, in the Illinois State’s Attorney additionally charging him with two counts of felony sexual assault.
”
JANUARY 2021
“Despite being aware of numerous allegations against the lay catechist under his supervision, Rev. Rand York publicly wishes Mark Rivera “Happy Birthday” on Facebook.
See Rev. York’s Facebook post here:”
Rev. Rand York at Church of the Resurrection (photo via Facebook)
“Joanna Rudenborg, with the support and help of Cherin Marie, Eve Ahrens, and another advocate, emails Bp. Stewart Ruch and UMD leaders Cn. Eirik Olsen, Cn. William Beasley, and Rev. Keith Hartsell.
In her email, Joanna explains at length why the situation with Mark Rivera is far worse than Church of the Resurrection and the UMD leaders seem to realize. She then begs Bp. Ruch to enlist an independent third party investigator as well as asks them to bring in professional help to train staff and church leaders and to advise the diocese on how to proceed in a safe manner.
From Joanna’s email to Bp. Ruch:
“Please do not think you are an exception to the rule. Every great church scandal starts with a Mark Rivera. Every church thinks they will “handle” it. Every church thinks they’re a little bit different, that their predator is a little bit different, that they can get him and his victims counseling, and that will take care of it. Please don’t be every church. Please be better.””
Read the rest of the series:
Part 01, Accusation & Arrest
What happens when churches turn their backs on abuse survivors? This second section of our timeline highlights the ways that communities shun victims and support predators.
Read Part 1 of the Piecing it All Together series here.
Part 02, Ignored & Rejected
What happens when churches turn their backs on abuse survivors? This second section of our timeline highlights the ways that communities shun victims and support predators.
Read Part 2 of the Piecing it All Together series here.
Part 04, Official Channels
Survivors often face secondary trauma and exhaustion when navigating official channels. In this fourth section of our timeline, we document the futility of seeking help through institutions that are structured in a way that makes justice impossible.
Read Part 4 of the Piecing it All Together series here.