While some individuals have said church leaders in the Upper Midwest Diocese exposed them to conversion therapy or pressured them to stay in abusive marriages, “the Province’s interpretation may be that these are just differences of theology,” Rudenborg told RNS. Our great desire is that the Anglican Church in North America will be a safe place for adults and children, the broken-hearted and the vulnerable.” In Sunday’s announcement, ACNA leadership said, “We will not shield anyone who has committed abuse or engaged in misconduct from the scrutiny of an impartial and objective investigation that seeks the truth. Joanna Rudenborg, who has reported being sexually abused by Rivera, echoed Goff’s concerns about the lack of clarity around what ACNA might consider spiritual abuse. Goff said they are concerned about trusting their story with an institution that is not affirming of LGBTQ individuals. “I haven’t chosen to participate so far because I don’t think my story will be taken seriously,” said Goff, who is nonbinary. Goff attended Church of the Resurrection, headquarters of the Upper Midwest Diocese, between 20.
“ACNAtoo has been fighting for a safe investigation on my behalf and the ACNA has chosen to completely disregard the wishes and requests of many of Mark’s victims, including mine,” she said.Īmers Goff, who says they experienced ecclesial abuse in the Upper Midwest Diocese, told Religion News Service they were still deciding whether to participate in the investigation into abuse of church power. Others have said Bishop Stewart Ruch III, who has been on a leave of absence since July, and other church leaders created a toxic culture of submission and control at Church of the Resurrection, the diocesan headquarters.Ī woman named Holly who is another alleged victim, and who also asked to keep her last name private, has likewise declined to participate in the sexual abuse investigation. Ten people have come forward since 2019 to accuse Mark Rivera, a former lay minister in the Upper Midwest Diocese, of sexual assault and child sexual abuse. It comes weeks after three of eight people appointed to a Provincial Response Team to oversee the sexual abuse investigation resigned, saying the team’s process “never felt survivor-centered.” The denomination also furnished a number for ACNA’s confidential support hotline and said that there is a fund to assist sexual abuse survivors.īut the announcement did little to answer accusations from a group called ACNAtoo and others that the investigations do too much to protect the church.
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In an announcement by the 13-year-old denomination on Sunday, survivors of abuse were given information about how to contact two firms, Husch Blackwell and Telios Law Firm, that will conduct parallel investigations into sexual abuse and abuse of ecclesiastical power, respectively. As investigations into sexual abuse and abuse of church power get underway in the Anglican Church in North America’s Upper Midwest Diocese, at least five individuals who say they experienced sexual or spiritual abuse in the diocese say they will not participate in one or both of the investigations due to concerns about transparency.
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