Alleged Victims Say ACNA Church Leaders Failed to Acknowledge Their Abuse Allegations

Ten people in all have come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against a volunteer leader in the Anglican Church in North America.

For more than two decades, Mark Rivera was a beloved volunteer leader of two churches in the Chicago suburbs. Known for his charisma and humor, the husband and father of four often boasted that he was the godfather of over 30 children in his community.

Church leaders and members in the Diocese of the Upper Midwest, of the Anglican Church in North America, trusted Rivera’s spiritual authority. According to reports from former Christ Our Light Anglican Church parishioners, they dismissed his frequent physical affection — his habit of kissing young girls on the cheek or inviting teenagers to sit on his lap — as “just Mark being Mark.”

Then, in May 2019, a 9-year-old child told her mother that Rivera had abused her, according to the woman, Cherin Marie, who asked that her last name not be used to protect the family’s privacy. For those who believed the alleged victim, the revelation was earth-shattering. Yet many in the small community, many of them family or neighbors of the accused or his accuser, doubted the child’s story.

Since then, nine additional people have made allegations of abuse by Rivera, including child sexual abuse, grooming, rape and assault, and Rivera has been charged with felony child sexual assault and abuse of the 9-year-old. To date, the diocese has publicly acknowledged only some of the allegations, and according to abuse prevention advocates, has downplayed the access he had to children and others while in church leadership. Read More

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