"In other words, your hands were tied to intervene until Bp. Ruch himself formally requested leave. Thus even in the case of a diocese mishandling multiple credible sexual abuse allegations at every level of governance, ..."
"...the Province still interprets subsidiarity so strictly that a de facto step in addressing mishandled abuse allegations is that survivors themselves must conjure the capacity, initiative,...
"...and will to launch a social media campaign which in turn precipitates a public shaming thorough enough to drive the Bishop in question to step down...
"...We must conclude there is a dangerous, fundamental flaw in a hierarchy that waits for an errant Bishop to put himself on leave after publicly admitting he made “regrettable errors” going back two years in his handling of serious sexual abuse allegations,...
"...even to the point that the Bishop is permitted to libel the Province by falsely stating it supports his misdeeds."
This thread by @john__perrine cuts through the Performative Sincerity of leaders like @aarondamiani. Like @StewartRuch who trained & empowered him, he is adept at saying the right things publicly while doing the exact opposite publicly.
I also bet that if met @aarondamiani & @StewartRuch in person without knowing about any of this stuff, I would think they were great people. I love my tribe of charismatic Anglicans. I also love that these are people that have been trying to train people and build good things.
Most leaders are not going to fail in the ways that we are hearing about from the survivors because most leaders are not going to try to take the Holy Spirit seriously or invest this much time in training people.
We still can't treat people under our authority in this way.
Thank you, @ArchbishopFoley . The team at @ACNAtoo is looking forward to walking with you and working with you as you lead @The_ACNA into the light so we can be a safe, healthy, & mature denomination.
We are grateful to see this shift in public tone from the Province & a willingness to talk publicly and pastorally.
This is what we need from you along with significant changes in policy & culture in @The_ACNA so this never happens again.
No one wanted to have to expose these things on social media.
No one wanted to have to take an aggressive social media strategy to place the shame that @StewartRuch & @MidwestAnglican were placing on survivors & place it back on the leaders that shamefully failed them.
@ACNAtoo survivor & advocate @Weejenbug just released this statement regarding her experience of spiritual abuse in @StewartRuch's @MidwestAnglican . It is one of the most concise & clearly written case studies describing power dynamics & spiritual abuse that I have ever read.
Why is this being shared publicly? The survivors get to decide what to share and to whom. They have all fulfilled the requirements of Matt 18 for addressing grievances & have reached the stage in which their concerns will only be taken seriously by @The_ACNA if shared publicly.
Is this the only way we plan to do things at @ACNAtoo ? Absolutely not. If enough volunteers join us to share the load, we hope to establish safe ways for people to quietly report their experiences of abuse on either the parish, diocesan, or provincial level & seek justice.
If you've been following this Twitter feed since the @ACNAtoo pleas of survivors were released, you have gotten to see a mode that I don't normally turn loose and hope that I never have to turn loose again.
I call it "Salty the Singeing Burn Book" mode.
If your first thought is, "what does that even mean?" I will explain.
If you are an evangelical or ex-evangelical of a certain age, you may have encountered a character called "Psalty the Singing Psalm Book" at Vacation Bible School.
I don't recall ever encountering Psalty as a kid, though my husband does & a lot of my friends do.
I was raised Southern Baptist & some of my earliest memories of church events included puppets- lots of them.
@writer_dee Salty the Tweeting Burn Book only comes out to burn leaders like @StewartRuch who have been given opportunities to learn and do the right thing & refuse.
The Stew Crew was given endless opportunities by people who loved them & were willing to move past previous horrible mistakes
@writer_dee@StewartRuch If ever any clueless, well-intentioned knuckleheaded had a chance to come out of this looking like a hero, it was @StewartRuch.
Instead, his sentimentality about his sincerity & his obstinate refusal to listen & repent have led to his exposure.
@writer_dee@StewartRuch The plan is to avoid having to get Salty, because I actually don't like being salty.
We want @The_ACNA to listen to people who know what they are talking about- survivors, experts on trauma-informed & survivor-sensitive care, pastors/deacons who are awesome at pastoral care...