Nonetheless, he told Beach that he is “open to dialogue about the process of facilitating my return and addressing strategies for repairing the damage done to my reputation.”
Others are expressing solidarity with Ruch. In an accompanying letter, Alec Smith, who serves as Ruch’s advising chancellor, or church lawyer, argued that ACNA leadership had illegitimately expanded the scope of the investigations. That letter claimed the investigation had treated Ruch as if he had been “credibly accused of misconduct and was pending potential ecclesiastical discipline.”
“To put it bluntly, Bp. Stewart’s return to leadership is necessary to prevent the very real risk that a Provincial bureaucracy will run roughshod over the diocesan integrity that is core (to) Anglican polity,” he wrote.
Andrew Gross, spokesperson for ACNA, told RNS in an email that the Provincial investigative process “has been consistent with the Anglican Church in North America’s canons, committed to justice for everyone, and grounded in Biblical principles and compassion.”
The polity, or governance, of the church is part of what is in question in the investigations. Rejecting the Episcopal Church’s hierarchical structure, ACNA purposely decentralized its organization when it formed the new denomination, with each diocese deciding its own rules. The delay in reporting Rivera’s case that prompted Ruch’s timeout, some say, may have been avoided if firmer processes had been in place.
But others say that Ruch and other leaders have made the situation worse by defending the church instead of attending to Rivera’s alleged victims.
Helen Keuning resigned from the Upper Midwest Diocese’s Bishop’s Council last month in part because, she said, of the way diocesan and denominational leaders allegedly cast reported abuse survivors as their enemy. Then, this week, Keuning released Ruch’s and Smith’s letters to Beach in a series of reports published on the website of an anti-abuse advocacy group called ACNAtoo.
According to Keuning’s account, Bishop John Miller, the acting bishop in Ruch’s absence, called Ruch on behalf of the Bishop’s Council to ask him to remain on leave until after the independent investigations conclude, which drew an “irate” response from Ruch, according to Keuning’s account. In the run-up to Easter this month, Ruch put in a surprise appearance at Church of the Resurrection and was welcomed by cheers and applause.
Keuning, who declined an interview with RNS, added that she had personally heard members of the Bishop’s Council demonize the work of ACNAtoo by charging that the group was being used by Satan to destroy Ruch and challenge traditional views on marriage and female ordination.
“You should fast and pray before you read ACNAtoo because it is definitely Satan’s work in our diocese,” Keuning wrote in describing the conversations.
She added that several members of the Bishop’s Council rejoiced when they learned of an account from a separate group of Rivera survivors, known as BelieveUsToo, who released a statement challenging ACNAtoo’s advocacy and asking Ruch to be reinstated.
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