Supporting victims of sexual abuse and other harm in ACNA contexts. Resources, networking, whistleblowing. Survivor-led. (ACNA=Anglican Church in North America)
Jun 25 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
On June 26, 2021, rape survivor & advocate Joanna Rudenborg publicly exposed Bp. Stewart Ruch’s mishandling of sexual abuse disclosures within @The_ACNA's Upper Midwest Diocese.
Her thread sent shock waves through the ACNA and beyond. 1/6
As diocesan and provincial leaders scrambled to escape the growing scrutiny, Joanna’s courage inspired other survivors to come forward with their own stories of abuse in the Church. 2/6
On July 7, 2022, @the_ACNA announced that Bp. Todd Atkinson would face a canonical trial based on presentments that brought four charges of violation of Canon IV.2.4.
anglicanchurch.net/statement-from…
Atkinson was the bishop of the Via Apostolica missionary district and canonically resident in @midwestanglican.
600 days ago, @The_ACNA published @HuschBlackwell's report on @MidwestAnglican abuse mishandling. Three days later, per survivor requests to redact privacy-violating details, the ACNA pulled the report, pledging to speak with HB about further redactions:
A member of @ACNAtoo contacted both @The_ACNA and @HuschBlackwell representatives to ask when they planned to publish a properly redacted report:
Apr 1, 2024 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Starting in 2021, substantial allegations of abuse and abuse mishandling have been made against @midwestanglican Bishop Stewart Ruch.
acnatoo.org/presentment
Bp. Ruch took a leave of absence in 2021 and @the_acna brought in a law firm to investigate. Since then, 2 presentments have been submitted, one by 3 bishops in December 2022, and another by lay members and clergy—most of whom were resident in @MidwestAnglican —in June 2023.
Sep 30, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
The Husch Blackwell report that @The_ACNA published on September 27 contains graphic details of the sexual abuse of a minor, in spite of personal and explicit details of other survivor and witness testimonies being heavily redacted.
This child’s parents chose not to participate in the investigation and did not give consent for any details of their daughter’s sexual abuse to be included in the report.
May 26, 2022 • 23 tweets • 24 min read
Abuse in the church is everyone’s problem. ACNAtoo stands in solidarity with the survivors of abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention. acnatoo.org/acnatoo-news/s…
We acknowledge with the deepest gratitude the decades of grueling work SBC survivors have invested in their struggle for justice, which has paved the way for others to come forward. Their tireless efforts have inspired us and provided a model for our work.
Jan 19, 2022 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
If you've just learned of the crisis in @The_ACNA, here's how we got to this point. Based on these facts, where do you want to see the Anglican Church in North America take the next step?
Jan 17, 2022 • 31 tweets • 6 min read
Today the following letter was provided to an ACNAtoo survivor advocate (with permission to share and publish as they saw fit) by @autumnvandehei, @artofbreathing, and @Christen_P5, former members of the Provincial Response Team. acnatoo.org/acnatoo-news/p…
The letter has the support of Executive Committee member Albert Thompson and is published in its entirety on our website and in the thread below as the authors wish for their concerns to be shared widely:
Oct 20, 2021 • 30 tweets • 9 min read
As part of our ongoing advocacy, #ACNAtoo offers our platform to ACNA survivors who choose to tell their abuse stories publicly.
We have compiled guidelines for stories of sexual abuse (and soon for spiritual abuse as well) to help survivors navigate this process.
What happens when you reach out with a story? Let's walk together through our sexual abuse survivor story guidelines: acnatoo.org/telling-your-s…
Oct 18, 2021 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Part 4 of our Time for Action series will address the concerns regarding additional disciplinary actions, as outlined in our July 15 Open Letter to Archbishop Foley Beach. acnatoo.org/acnatoo-blog/t…
In our open letter, we specifically called out three leaders for their grave dereliction of duty: acnatoo.org/acnatoo-blog/o…
Jul 31, 2021 • 43 tweets • 12 min read
We're publishing this guest thread by A&L (Angela & Laura), two #ACNAtoo survivors from All Souls Anglican Church in Wheaton, IL (Diocese of Pittsburgh). You can also read their expanded post on our blog: acnatoo.org/news/our-story…
A&L: While the hashtag is #ACNAToo, some of you might be under the impression that a more accurate hashtag would be #UpperMidwestToo. But we know better. We, Angela and Laura, are two survivors at @AllSoulsWheaton in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
Jul 19, 2021 • 30 tweets • 9 min read
In her first guest thread, CM (Cherin Marie) described @MidwestAnglican's mishandling of her daughter's sexual abuse allegations against Catechist Mark Rivera.
Cherin said that Christ Our Light Anglican Church (COLA) leaders pressured her not to report the abuse to civil authorities.
This is that story.
Jul 8, 2021 • 38 tweets • 22 min read
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
