Stewart Ruch III, who oversees the denomination’s Upper Midwest diocese of 18 churches across six states, was found not guilty of violating his ordination vows and engaging in conduct that brought “scandal,” among other church charges. Ruch, 59, denied all charges before the trial, which was conducted on Zoom and closed to the public.
In its ruling, the denomination’s seven-member Court for the Trial of a Bishop — which includes three bishops, two priests and two parishioners — said the prosecution provided insufficient evidence that Ruch violated his ordination vows, which it said required proof of “personal, intentional” misconduct. It also said that the prosecution didn’t substantiate allegations that he brought “scandal.”
“To the contrary, the evidence revealed consistent cooperation with law enforcement and investigators, proactive engagement with victims, voluntary transparency, and no wrongful conduct attributable to him,” the court wrote in its ruling. “The record demonstrates that any ‘scandal’ perceived within the Province arose from misinformation, shifting online narratives, procedural irregularities, and public statements made by others — not from episcopal misconduct.”
The Washington Post emailed and called Ruch on Tuesday shortly after the verdict was released but did not receive immediate replies. A spokeswoman for his diocese, though, released a statement saying it was “grateful” for the ruling.
“Over the last four and a half years, Bishop Stewart and our diocesan leaders have learned much and have worked to develop additional safeguarding policies and practices to better equip church staff and ministry leaders in the prevention, identification, and response to any suspected misconduct,” the statement read. “We remain committed to helping protect the most vulnerable in our midst and upholding the highest standards and accountability as leaders within the church.”
The long-awaited verdict comes as the denomination also struggles with a crisis involving its archbishop, Stephen Wood. In November, Wood, 62, was suspended following sexual misconduct allegations by two women. One of the women, who used to work at his church in South Carolina, accused him of trying to kiss her last year inside his office, shortly before his election as the denomination’s top leader. The complaint, which includes allegations that he plagiarized sermons and demeaned colleagues, was reviewed this month by a church board of inquiry, which found reasonable grounds to put him to trial. If found guilty, Wood could be defrocked.
The upheaval has roiled the denomination, which was established in 2009 by theological conservatives who separated from the Episcopal Church over its ordination of an openly gay bishop. The Anglican Church in North America counts 128,000 members across more than 1,000 congregations.
In the Chicago suburbs, Ruch has long been a well-known figure. He graduated in 1989 with a literature degree from Wheaton College, an evangelical school about 25 miles west of the city. About a decade later — after what he has described as “highly later-to-be-regretted” lifestyle decisions and his “radical return to Christ” — he became rector at the Church of the Resurrection, known as “Rez.” In 2013, he was consecrated as the first bishop of the Anglican Church in North America’s Upper Midwest Diocese. He remained Rez’s rector until 2020, when he decided to focus solely on serving as the diocese’s bishop.
His trial’s 10-day evidentiary phase began in mid-July, saw two different prosecutors resign and finally ended in mid-October. Then, the Court for the Trial of a Bishop had 60 days to deliberate and publish its decision and explanation.
The verdict comes three years after the first of two formal church complaints, known as presentments, was filed against Ruch by three fellow bishops.
Both complaints accused Ruch of mishandling an investigation into a 9-year-old girl’s allegations in 2019 that volunteer lay leader Mark Rivera had sexually abused her. Rivera was later convicted of sexually assaulting her and is now serving time in an Illinois prison.
But the court, in its ruling, said that “no testimony suggested any delay, omission, or obstruction” by Ruch after the allegations were made against Rivera. “The Court finds that the Respondent fulfilled all safeguarding and pastoral obligations and that nothing in the Rivera matter supports any inference of episcopal misconduct.”
The second presentment, filed in June 2023 by more than 40 clergy and parishioners, also accused Ruch of permitting men with criminal convictions into his diocese. The complaint said Ruch “knowingly and silently welcomed — without informing congregants — church members whose past actions included violence or abuse.” It added that he “transformed what should be, of all spaces, a sanctuary for the most vulnerable into a target for predation.”
One of those men, Nephtali Matta, works as the “Alpha Coordinator” at Ruch’s flagship church, leading regular discussions on Christianity. But Matta was arrested in Colorado in 2011, charged with attempted second-degree murder of his first wife, and spent nearly 480 days in jail. He later pleaded guilty to felony menacing and was released. He then moved to Illinois, joined Rez in Wheaton and was eventually hired to work part time.
The church’s interim head pastor, Matt Woodley, told The Post this year that he oversaw Matta’s hiring and that Ruch does not hire or oversee non-clergy employees. But the authors of the clergy-and-parishioner presentment have told The Post that the denomination’s bishops — as defined by the church’s own canons — are “administrators of godly discipline and governance” and “overseer[s] of the flock.”
The clergy-and-parishioner presentment also said that Ruch allowed John W. Hays, a registered child sex offender, to attend Rez as a worshiper, even though Hays had pleaded guilty to sexually abusing two boys years earlier. Hays’s presence at Rez became publicly known only when the watchdog group ACNAtoo published a blog item about it on its website.
The court’s ruling did not address Matta or Hays.
A third man highlighted in the complaint was a Minnesota priest, Josh Moon, whom Ruch ordained in 2020 despite knowing Moon had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor prostitution charge in 2014. The court ruled Tuesday that Ruch treated Moon’s history with “full seriousness.” Ruch’s approach, the court said, “reflected an attempt to balance pastoral compassion for a repentant believer seeking restoration with the Church’s obligation to safeguard its people.”
In 2022, Moon made an unwanted sexual advance on a female deacon from his church, according to church correspondence and a Post interview with the woman. He was removed as a priest, and the woman was suspended for a year by another bishop. Ruch, whom the woman said chided her for being alone with Moon, later extended her suspension by nine months. But Ruch’s extension violated a church canon that does not permit suspensions to be prolonged, the denomination’s then-archbishop later determined.
Even though Ruch testified during trial that he would not endorse Moon’s ordination today given his misconduct, the court found “this acknowledgment does not signify imprudence at the time, but instead reflects the maturation of pastoral judgment that naturally develops over a bishop’s ministry.” It added: “When analyzed as a whole, the evidence reveals no pattern of negligence, indifference, or disregard for safeguarding responsibilities.”
The court also criticized the 40-plus people who endorsed the second presentment.
“The signers of the second presentment had not participated in diocesan leadership, had no direct involvement in the events underlying their allegations, and possessed no personal knowledge of Bishop Ruch’s conduct,” the ruling read. “Their understanding was derived primarily from public summaries of investigations, media reporting, online discourse, and second- or third-hand accounts, rather than from documentary evidence or eyewitness testimony.”
Audrey Luhmann, who co-wrote the second presentment and helped establish ACNAtoo, defended the complaint’s evidence.
“The lay-led presentment authors worked directly with survivors to bring forward charges backed by a collection of over 60 exhibited documents,” she said. “We needed shepherds today who would finally lead well and allow us to simply be sheep. Instead, the shepherds chose to care for themselves, leaving their sheep to wolves.”