Thread by @ACNAtoo

We’re publishing this guest thread from the mother of the 9yo victim of sexual assaults by Mark Rivera. We’ll be using her initials to protect her & her daughter’s identity. She wants to correct the record about public statements put out by @ChurchRez & @MidwestAnglican. #ACNAtoo

Who’s who:
@StewartRuch: Bishop of @MidwestAnglican
@ChurchRez: Diocesan headquarters in Wheaton, IL, where CM, the victim's mother, attended for 18 years
Christ Our Light Anglican Church (COLA): small church in Big Rock, IL that CM helped plant in 2013

Dean William Beasley: @MidwestAnglican Missioner General, Dean & former head of Greenhouse Movement
Greenhouse: @greenhousemove is a church planting organization that planted Christ Our Light Church (COLA) in 2013 & approved Mark Rivera to become a COLA Church Catechist in 2014

CM: I am the mother of Mark Rivera's 9 y/o victim. It was never my desire to speak publicly but I am left with no choice. I learned recently of deliberate deceptions that @StewartRuch has told the @ChurchRez congregation regarding the handling of my daughter's abuse allegations.

CM: I attended @ChurchRez for 18 years, starting when I was 8. I knew @StewartRuch before he was even ordained as a priest. I have also lost almost all my @ChurchRez friends due to how @StewartRuch and @ChurchRez handled this 2 years ago when my family came to them for help.

CM: The time has come for me to break silence on behalf of my daughter and my family. There are sadly more deceptions than I can address in this thread, but I would like to share portions of an email I sent to @StewartRuch on May 1, 2021 that speaks to some of them.

CM: This email has been redacted to protect the identity of victims and minors. I have added last names and church titles for clarity in places. This gives an outline of what my family went through when we came to @ChurchRez for help in May '19 but is far from the whole story.

CM: Among other things, this email names the @MidwestAnglican leaders who tried to cover up Mark's sexual abuse of my daughter. One of these leaders, Diocesan Chancellor (lawyer) Charlie Philbrick, is currently on the diocesan team that is “overseeing” the investigation process.

CM: On 1/19/21 @ladyjessicahaze, myself, and 2 advocates had emailed @StewartRuch and told him about how COLA leaders and members mistreated my family in the wake of my daughter's abuse disclosure. He never even acknowledged this story. So I emailed him on 5/1/21 to explain more.

CM: My family began attending @ChurchRez on 5/19/19 after we were pushed out of COLA. It took a whole month before we received any pastoral care at Rez. While we waited for someone to meet with us, @MidwestAnglican leaders were giving Mark legal, spiritual, and financial support.

CM: I personally told @ChurchRez leaders on 6/16/19 about 5 additional victims and 2 potential victims who may be in ongoing danger. No one took any action. No reports were made. No one listened. @StewartRuch was presumably told there were more victims and he did nothing.

CM: No pastoral care plans were ever made for my family when we left COLA and came to @ChurchRez for help, despite the promise that they would be. Deacon Val McIntyre forgot about multiple prayer appointments and failed to provide even basic pastoral care to my family.

CM: Mark had a group of church leaders supporting him at every court hearing, including Fr. Rand York, the priest at COLA. My husband and I went alone to almost every hearing. Deacon Val McIntyre failed to put hearing dates in her calendar so we had almost no clergy support.

CM: On 6/29/19 I talked to @StewartRuch & learned that he attended Mark’s first court hearing to support him & had given Mark’s family $500 of @MidwestAnglican funds - all while failing to reach out to my family. My family was offered $500 of support but it was never given to us.

CM: @StewartRuch told me that he was current on the situation with Mark because his wife, Katherine, was talking to all involved and keeping him informed. She never talked to me but was talking about my family with other @ChurchRez members without hearing my family's story.

CM: Not only was the Bishop's wife, Katherine Ruch, talking about my daughter and my family without ever speaking to us - her opinion was used by an @ChurchRez member to affirm narratives that my daughter, a 9 y/o sexual abuse victim, was not trustworthy or credible.

CM: On 6/29/19 @StewartRuch told Deacon Val to connect my family with @ChicagoAnglican priest Fr. Hartsell for support; she never did this. My family also received zero financial assistance from @ChurchRez or @MidwestAnglican. Financial support was offered twice but never given.

CM: 11/2019 I asked Deacon Val McIntyre at @ChurchRez if Rez could help pay for professional counseling for me. Deacon Val gave me a therapist referral and offered me counseling assistance, but later capped it at $500 & never reimbursed me even for the $250 intake session.

CM: @StewartRuch recently told @ChurchRez that COLA paid for counseling for my daughter; COLA paid for her first 4 sessions, said they would pay more, and then never responded, over 2 years ago. My family has paid out-of-pocket since then with no help. Rez has paid for nothing.

CM: My family was gossiped about and treated badly by some @ChurchRez members and finally left the church. We tried getting help from Deacon Val McIntyre but our story was dismissed. @ChurchRez protected Mark’s children more than a 9 y/o abuse victim and her family.

CM: On 5/18/19 @MidwestAnglican Chancellor/Lawyer, Charlie Philbrick, told COLA church leaders they did not have to report Mark's abuse. COLA leaders Fr. Rand York and Chris Lapeyre asked me to meet with them and Mark, and told me, in front of Mark, they would not be reporting.

CM: With Mark sitting right there, Chris Lapeyre said, "We have been advised by the Diocesan Chancellor [Charlie Philbrick] that we do not need to report this to the authorities - and it sounds like you don't need to either.” I was pressured by many at COLA not to report Mark.

CM: Fr. Rand York, Chris Lapeyre, and @MidwestAnglican Dean William Beasley failed to report Mark's sexual abuse of my daughter. I reported Mark myself on 5/20/19. No one else reported it. @StewartRuch knew this happened, made excuses for it, and no one ever took ownership.

CM: The failure of Dean William Beasley and COLA leaders to report child sexual abuse led to @StewartRuch asking for an internal review of @greenhousemove, the church planting organization that planted Christ Our Light in 2013 and made Mark Rivera a catechist in 2014.

CM: I was asked by @StewartRuch to participate in this review, told by him that my story mattered, and then was forgotten about. @StewartRuch finally told me in late Jan '21 that the review had been completed back in Nov '20. I was never allowed to see the final report.

CM: On 11/21/20 @stewart Ruch encouraged me to get pastoral care from a church I was no longer attending. I told Deacon Val McIntyre that my family had no pastoral care but she did nothing. We were left with no help while @ChurchRez surrounded Mark Rivera with prayer and support.

CM: Deacon Val McIntyre’s pastoral negligence deeply harmed my family. She failed to provide us with proper pastoral care, withheld promised financial assistance, and contributed to my family being pushed out of @ChurchRez when we desperately needed support and community.

CM: Others at @ChurchRez harmed us deeply. Some members gossiped about us, leaders failed to listen or take meaningful action, and my daughter was not believed or supported. I lost many friends and my reputation was destroyed. @ChurchRez is not a safe place for victims.

CM: I asked @StewartRuch many questions that he has never answered: Why did no one apologize that @MidwestAnglican and @greenhousemove leaders refused to report my daughter’s sexual abuse? Why did no one listen when I told @ChurchRez leaders there were more victims?

CM: 12/2020 I asked a friend to help arrange a meeting with Katherine Ruch so I could discuss, in-person, the painful things my family experienced at @ChurchRez - Katherine never responded.

I also told @StewartRuch that I am heartbroken over his and the church’s inaction.

CM: Advocates and supporters - I need your help! I am calling publicly for the immediate removal of Bishop Stewart Ruch and Diocesan Chancellor Charlie Philbrick from the committee that is overseeing the @MidwestAnglican investigation.

CM: Both @StewartRuch and Diocesan Chancellor Charlie Philbrick are implicated in the mishandling of my daughter's sexual abuse allegations and have a vested interest in keeping the truth covered up. Neither should be allowed to have any say in the investigative process.

CM: Others on the investigation committee, Lay Canon Brenda Dumper and Dean Eirik Olsen, are decades-long close friends with Mark Rivera and his family. Mark's victims and our advocates are not okay with this.

CM: The oversight of this investigation should be immediately turned over to a new team made up entirely of people that have no relationship with Mark Rivera and who are not under Bishop Stewart Ruch's authority in any way. Nothing about this committee is “independent”.

CM: My friend, Rachel, mentioned in the attached tweet, has always believed and supported my daughter and me. I have just learned from Rachel that Katherine did express openness to meeting with me when I reached out in December.

https://twitter.com/ACNAtoo/status/1412957242723237889

CM: At that time Rachel was very sick with COVID and although she forwarded my message to Katherine, she was not able to help more at that time. Once she had recovered some she followed up with me and offered to facilitate a meeting with Katherine.

CM: As I was already speaking with the Diocese I told Rachel it would be better to wait until Diocesan communication resolved before trying to meet with Katherine. Communication with the Diocese went downhill quickly so I never followed up, and Katherine never reached out to me.

CM: I would also like to add that Bp. Stewart and Katherine offered to meet in person after reading my email from 5/1/21. I declined this offer because I did not feel safe meeting together without first seeing them take ownership and accountability for what had happened.