From: Rand York  <[redacted email address]
To: Cherin Marie [redacted] <[redacted email address]>, [Cherin’s husband] <[redacted email address]>
Date: Wed, June 26, 2019 
Subject: In answer to your recent email

Dear Cherin and [redacted],

We will answer your question regarding [redacted]’s therapy in a subsequent email.

I am advised by my own personal attorney not to speak with you or Mark & [Mark’s wife] regarding this case, which is an ongoing criminal investigation in which I might be called by either party to be a witness. And while I remain available to all for pastoral care, I cannot do more than that. My previous response to you regarding church money allocated to either party in this case was in violation of that advice. In doing so, I implied and/or confirmed that money from Christ Our Light has been allocated only to you and not to the Riveras. I can certainly confirm to you the financial help Christ Our Light has extended to your family, because you already know it. I cannot confirm or comment on anything that touches on this case with regard to the Riveras.

Cherin, I am sorry to have missed you at court this morning, but I am so glad Val was able to accompany you. [Mark’s wife] asked me to remain with her in these uncharted waters, and by the time she was free to go, you had already gone. I regret that.

You are currently a member of the Vestry at Christ Our Light, and so you have a right to know what the church is spending. You are, however, also party to an ongoing legal case involving another family in our church, even though the church itself is not directly involved (i.e. alleged incidents did not happen on church property or happen during church sponsored events).

But the mutual connections that the two families have with our church do mean that none of us can continue such discussion until after this legal process has been completed.

I wish it were otherwise.

This also means there is a conflict of interest regarding your position as a member of the same Vestry that has approved the help we have provided thus far to your family. You do not currently attend Christ Our Light, and there is no indication of when you might begin attending again. Because of this, but more importantly since these recent events can indeed be construed to be conflicts of interest, it would greatly simplify matters, and protect you as well, if you stepped down from your place on Vestry.

This is a hard suggestion to make, as we remain grateful as a church for the selfless ways you and [redacted] have served Christ Our Light.

We join you in your sorrow that “this is happening and that we can’t walk through it together as a church.”

Such is our legal system, which provides both pathways and barriers.

In sorrow,
Rand+