Thread 2: Another specific point of concern. When a congregant of abuse expresses discomfort and @StewartRuch "adamantly" insists you continue attending. There are two possible reasons a bishop/rector /pastor would respond this way
The first reason: spiritual pride. You sincerely believe your church to be "the best kind of church" for healing, or to maintain some kind of "distinctiveness" that offers a care no other congregation nearby might.
I know from experience @ChurchRez and @MidwestAnglican often views themselves that way. Many churches do. But when you have a case abuse connected in any way to your congregation, you should NOT attempt to reassert the distinctive or special quality of your community
To do so reveals a deep attachment to the distinctiveness of your community above all others. If you as the bishop hold their perspective, so will your priests and congregants. If you view yourself as "better than" other churches, it will become impossible to receive criticism
There is however a second motivation to "adamantly" insist on someone remaining that is far more insidious: to retain proximity and control over their allegations.
As has been noted several times by @AaronMHarrison and @hlgriffin I am not questioning the sincerity of those involved who believed they were doing "what was best" for the victim.
But I am questioning the conscious or subconscious attempts of any spiritual leader who pressures victims of abuse to "remain" in an environment that is clearly distressing. This is not pastoral care. It is pastoral control.
Whether it was spiritual pride, or control or some other motivation that caused @StewartRuch to encourage CM to stay, the result was undeniably a disastrous experience of pastoral care that requires more repentance and reform than simply acknowledging "mistakes"
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Thread 1: I want to zoom in on a particular point. As a pastoral resident at @ChurchRez for two years I can confirm multiple statements said by Katharine Ruch that match the horrifying rumor that reached CM, that KR indicated a “bad home” could dismiss allegations
Katharine Ruch (and therefore @StewartRuch by extension) repeatedly in private dismissed family and parenting models that don’t mirror their own. This creates a toxic elitism and spiritual pride by extension for those who adopt their views.
@veni_vidi_ceni has an incredibly insightful thread chronicling how the problem and the hope for scandal/abuse is polity to address failed polity, even as charismatic streams exacerbate the problem.
When you add to the mix a highly charismatic cocktail of revivalism, prophetic ministry, and hierarchal authority, what you get is a scenario that makes reporting of concerns impossible, and those who question anointed leaders villainized as spiritually immature