Thread by @artofbreathing

@autumnvandehei @Christen_P5

We are writing today to share our thoughts and concerns about the sentencing of lay minister Mark Rivera, a youth leader in the Anglican Church’s Upper Midwest Diocese.

The three of us represent sexual abuse survivors in various expert capacities and were tapped to advise the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) to ensure a proper investigation was initiated to look into any potential clergy missteps.

We feel strongly that our voices - like those of the victims - were silenced by Church leaders and deserve to be heard to protect Anglican women and children now and going forward.

Our aim is to bring transparency, for as long as it takes, to a horrible chapter in the history of the Anglican Church.

We will stand with survivors to ensure that this chapter is not revised and reconstructed for the future, with lies, unnecessary complexity, and refusal to hear outside advice in an attempt to protect the institution.

We seek to hold the clergy in charge accountable for what they did and what was left undone.

We are glad that justice from our secular justice system was meted out today. We are grateful that the wheels of justice, despite the years it took, moved and convicted this predatory criminal. Women and children will be safer with him behind bars for 15 years.

We were sickened to read the letters of support for the predator from his “spiritual advisors,” asking the judge for leniency.

With proper education, religious institutions must be able to understand the dynamic of a sexual predator, how to respond, and that being trauma informed and victim centered does not preclude due process.

While we are thrilled that the secular justice system has done its job, we remain discouraged by how far the Church has to go in practicing justice.

Sadly, the stated goals anglicanchurch.net/a-letter-from-… of the Archbishop for the response team, in his letter to the Church, were not met.

Our resignation letter acnatoo.org/acnatoo-news/p… details our belief that the Church did not actually intend to rely on our shared expertise to care for victims and shift policies in an effort to seek accountability, regain trust, and adopt best practices for clergy involved.

In fact, it became very clear to us that we were being used for cover. We were touted by leadership, along with recognizable names in the field, as experts guiding the process.

This was untrue: much of the actual decision-making was done apart from the Provincial Response Team’s weekly meetings with a cohort of lawyers and public relations professionals who worked for the ACNA.

Not only were we excluded from those, but our advice was often ignored in the meetings we did take part in.

In fact, PRT meeting minutes will show that even the terms “trauma-informed” and “survivor-centered” were controversial. The principles guiding these terms are the foundation for safe and transparent interaction with trauma survivors.

For our attempts to explain the importance of these principles to support the victims, we were met with skepticism and in at least once instance, outright hostility.

We were the only three individuals on the team not employed by the Church, with the exception of a member of the ACNA’s Executive Committee.

And the PRT’s work culminated in a nonstandard external investigation with a bizarrely constrained scope that prevented investigators from even drawing factual conclusions, let alone providing any policy recommendations.

There is strong evidence of mishandling and manipulation at the highest levels of leadership in the ACNA. It grieves us to say this, but the Anglican Church in North America’s leadership misled and hurt people.

The College of Bishops listened to accusations against us, three female volunteers who were asked to help out and gained nothing materially from participation, without us there to defend ourselves. We were never asked to appear and respond.

This tragedy extends further. The Bishops have kept their own counsel, and no one seems to be aware of the accusations and charges and conflict brewing now over what has happened. Why?

Why is knowledge about this case so closely guarded by the College of Bishops and the Province? Why have so few people spoken up?

And why does the Province seem able to move swiftly and with clarity on other issues (such as, for example, the Anglican Church in Kenya’s consecration of a woman bishop), but not on this?

We don’t have the answers. But we do know that these are symptoms of sickness in the system.

In many of our interactions with Provincial leadership before and after our resignation, we observed a kind of siege mentality. Leaders seemed to see themselves as the vulnerable under attack, and were more protective of each other than the truly vulnerable people in their care.

This also manifested in a lack of transparency, and in imagining cultural and political significance lurking behind terms and processes that were simply about following standard best practices for serving survivors.

We believe that those within this denomination with the most authority should model humility and repentance. Instead, the posture has been shields up and swords drawn. Every person who resigned from the process in protest was a woman who was not employed by the ACNA.

In closing, our goal is not to burn anything down. We simply want to lift up the truth. To lift up the victims of this debacle who will never be the same. Not just because of the abuse, but because of their treatment after the abuse by the Church.

All the victims' feelings are legitimate and we respect them and their personal experience. We are only speaking about what the three of us saw with our own eyes. We don’t pretend to know, or represent every victim of Mark Rivera’s crimes with this statement.

We aren’t looking for retribution for mistreatment and false accusations on our own behalf. But we do call out for justice on behalf of every victim who’s phone call and email were met with no response, or callous indifference from the Province.

For every child whose life will never be the same again. For every woman who has been demeaned and gaslit when conveying her story.

We call on the Anglican Church leadership in North America, on the day of Mark Rivera’s sentencing to prison, to humble themselves and repent for their arrogance, obfuscation, deceit and missteps. For all that they did, and did not do.

With love and hope,

AGC

Autumn Hanna VandeHei

The Rev. Gina Roes

Christen Price, Esq.